dagies

It's what he's skilled at!

I'm certainly out for Friday night and Saturday is only a guess at this point. Would like to get to Senser's to watch a game, but I will be a "game time decision". If I go I'll have to look for a big table of Sioux fans.

I agree with DAR. I think we have been very spoiled over the past few years with some freshmen that came in and knocked our socks off. Forney may be able to do that again, but a more cautious level of expectations for a kid coming in from high school seems more prudent to me. And VandeVelde may turn out to be very good, but he struggled to light up the USHL, like DAR said. It remains to be seen how quickly he'll adapt to the WCHA level.

Amen, Mory00. That's why, though I respect Mankato as an opponent, I fully expect the Sioux will get the job done this weekend.

I hope he steps right in where Brandt left off. I can watch my video tapes of games and listen to Fabian ripping on the opposing players!

I factored that in.

They must have changed the article because when I read it yesterday it distinctly referred to this being Stafford's second year with the Sioux.

I think this guy has some mixed up facts, and the idea that Stafford will be here next year is one of them. But I guess we can hope.

I'm predicting Kozek will be on one of the top 2 lines next year.

One can hope!

I've seen a few MN games and Kessel had made some very sweet passes to assist on goals on the PP.

This is the second time I've seen someone on the internet post that Kessel receives more "defensive attention" than other WCHA rookies. How do we know that, first of all. And if he's not playing on one of the big lines with MN, he's probably not playing against the opponent's top D pairings either. Or, are opponents game planning around Kessel? No wonder Potulny's got all those points, if opponents have to worry primarily about the Kessel line.

We may yet, Mr. Frodo....we may yet.

Talk about a unique character. Here's something sad. My 11 year old son was sitting with me at breakfast yesterday when the news was talking about Kirby. Noticing he played for the Twins, my son asks "Dad, who's Kirby Puckett?". I grew up in the 70's hiding an old transistor radio in my bed and listening to Twins games at night under the covers. And my kid doesn't even know who Kirby Puckett is. Boy, did he miss out.

There's been a couple of cryptic comments recently made on the gopher board about some trouble some Mankato players might be in. Nothing concrete seems to be out there, but the posters giving the hints are the type who normally have some credibility. So maybe there have been some suspensions. I'm sure we'll find out more as the week goes on if it is true.

If you compare what Stafford and Parise did to the guys who won in their cases, it's an awfully close call. If anything, they were more deserving than Toews to either win or share the award. Offensive Player Stastny 3-1-4 1 OT GWG and 1 other goal, 1 game tying goal in the next game, and 1 other assist in a win and a tie. Stafford 3-1-4 2 SH goals, 1 GWG, and 1 assist in 2 wins. One might argue that Stastny's goals were more important to his team pulling out the win and the tie. Defensive Player Elliot 1 goal on 65 shots in 2 wins. Parise 0 goals on 46 shots in 2 wins. One might argue that the quality of the competition for Elliot was a little higher than Parise. And Elliot faced almost 50% more shots. Rookie Stoa had 2 goals and 2 assists. Toews 1 goal and 3 assists.

I don't have the numbers but apparently there's a large discrepancy in attendance when you look at when it used to be held in Wisconsin compared to the crowds they get here in MN. And selfishly, having it here in MN every year means I get to go to it every year. My buddies and I look forward to it all year.

Oh, that's just beautiful. I don't know whether to laugh at CBS's failure, or shake my head at the apparent bent they had for their story.

That's why we call them "TicketNazi".

The way Toews has been playing of late, and with another big weekend this past weekend he might currently be the best freshman in the WCHA, but it could be too late of a surge to make his case with the rest of the league.

Kozek is playing well, both offensively and defensively. I could see moving Kozek up with Porter and Prpich. It is possible that line could become more potent offensively with a more gifted scorer on it. I'm not sure I'm a fan of playing Foyt or Marvin at this point. Though I was a bit surprised not to see Marvin on the ice for Senior night last Saturday. This tells me that Hak felt he couldn't afford to put Marvin on the ice when the team really needed to win. Therefore, it's kind of a mystery to me who will play next Friday night. I suppose Marvin might get the first nod, unless Miller or even Martens has been turning it up during practice. I would guess whoever plays on Friday might get a quick hook for Saturday's game if they are less than effective.

I will agree with you on this one. This doesn't add anything to the discussion.

Careful what you ask for. I'll bet you never thought it would even get this far.

MN - AA = MN doesn't lose important games that it should win. MN sweeps handily. DU - UMD = UMD has some young talent and they play hard but it's been a long season and they struggle to get it done. DU seems to find a way to get it done, though my gut says they're not that good of a team. DU in 2. WI - MTech = This is the first 3 goal series I'll predict. Teslak closed the shop for long periods this last weekend against relentless Sioux pressure. Can Bucky put forth that type of sustained pressure? Not so sure. If Teslak isn't suffering 3rd period nightmares after this last week he will steal one for Tech. But just one. Tech can't score. Bucky in 3. Sioux - MSU = Mankato is playing solidly and has a history of giving the Sioux some trouble in first round playoff games. Totally different teams and coaches but I'm still running with that. Mankato is playing better and will find a way to take Friday's game, even though they should be logey after a late season week off. The Sioux struggle to find out how to replace Fabian in the lineup. The Sioux rebound and take the next 2. Superior talent and home cooking prevail. Of my 3 goal predictions this is the one I feel has the best chance to be just a sweep for the good guys. CC - SCSU = SCSU can't score either, but Goepfert will make a statement in his last college hockey games and CC will be forced to go to 3 games to win the series. Of all the series, this is the best chance for an upset, especially if Sterling is out. If so, CC will have lost 2 very important offensive players in the last month. Looking at the silver lining of playing a tougher team (as most are assuming), the Sioux will be forced to keep playing at a high level, and it will be another victorious weekend over a quality opponent at home. This should help provide confidence and force a continuing strong level of play going into the NCAA's. As long as they win. Just win, baby.

It seems to me that GWG is kind of a meaningless stat. Your team could score 7 straight goals, you score the 4th, and you get a nice GWG on your stat page because your team gives up 3 goals in the last 5 minutes of the game. Big deal. It doesn't seem all that often that the game is tied going into the 3rd, and a player from one team bears down enough to score the go-ahead goal that stands up as the winner.